Mass Effect Andromeda: Companion Review – Part 1

“Arguably the highlight of every Mass Effect and Dragon Age game since Bioware was acquired by EA and fundamentally changed its approach to storytelling, has been the companions. Each game sets up a grand, overarching plot that consists of a mostly personality-less protagonist running around a massive world (or galaxy) collecting resources and allies to fight an ultimate bad guy. While the overarching plot is ostensibly the driving force behind the games’ narrative, story beats are typically spread out over a massive RPG game packed to the brim with dozens of characters, environments, and hours of play time. So Bioware resorted to the companion system as a means of keeping a steady drip of interesting sub-plot character developments to fill the gaps between central plot beats.

Whether due to having different writers or just an easier task, Bioware companions nearly always end up more interesting as a whole than the game’s main plot. They tend to be interesting conduits for world building that fill in the minute details of what it’s actually like to live in a crazy sci-fi space opera or medieval fantasy world. Plus the arcs and emotions of unique characters directly affected by the main plot provides a much greater sense of emotional gravity to story events, even more so than talking to random peasants. As a result, Garrus, Tali, Mordin, Wrex, and Legion have certainly left a more lasting impression on the Mass Effect fan base than pretty much anything else in the series.

So how does Mass Effect Andromeda carry on Bioware’s legacy of fantastic companion characters? Here is a review for all six Andromeda companions: